Brian wrote across the blackboard. "Anything is possible," he turned to the class.

"If there's anything that you get out of my class, I hope it's this. Anything is possible," he looked around the room.

"As I said before this is Intro to Parapsychology. This is the class where you need to open your mind to the possibility that," he pointed to the board, "anything is possible," he finished.

He took a sip of the coffee that was sitting on his desk, as it always was. "This class is not about proof. I don't expect you to come into class and say 'Brian, I can prove to you that ghosts exist. There's one in my dorm!' he said and waited as the class chuckled.

"Of course, I'd be at your dorm in a flash to check it out! But I don't expect you to prove that anything does or doesn't exist. I just want you to think about why you are here, why do you believe what you do, what inspired you to take this wacko class that no one in their "normal" mind would take. If you're in this class, I know you believe in something. And belief is half the battle," he said, tossing the piece of chalk onto the tray on the blackboard.

"Let's do some reading today, kids. Take out your textbook and turn to page 5," he said, picking up his book.

Jake enjoyed Brian's little speech and didn't mind the reading of the text, it was actually interesting. Jake hoped that Brian kept true to his statement that he didn't expect anyone to prove anything existed. If only Brian knew what was sitting in his classroom. He would have the six greatest science experiments of all time.

******************************

"Emily, can I see you a minute?" Brian asked as Emily and Jake were about to be the last ones to leave the class.

"Yeah," she said to Brian. "Go ahead, I'll catch up," she told Jake as he slowed to wait for her.

Jake walked down the hall and turned quickly when he heard the door shut close with a firm click.

******************************

"How's it going?" Brian turned around and asked her.

"I don't know. Tony's gone. You know Katarina died last night," Emily said to him.

"Yeah. But she put in a good long fight," Brian told her.

Emily nodded in agreement. "And our favorite demon was back again," she informed him.

"Yeah, I felt something was up with that," he said. She sent him a look. He held up his hands. "You said you could handle it," he said. She sighed. "How's Jake dealing with it?" he asked.

"He's not really. He's still in denial, I think," she said, shifting her books in her arms.

"You think he can handle it?" Brian asked her. "Really? I can come..."

"We can handle it. He just needs some time. I just hope we have some."

"Me too," Brian said, touching her face.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," she said, brushing his hand away.

"I worry about you," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I know you do. But really, we're fine and if we need you we'll call."

"Well, I need you," Brian said, moving in close to her. "Tonight."

*******************************

Jake was in the kitchen with George finishing washing the dinner dishes when Emily came in, her high heels clicking on the floor.

George turned and whistled. "Where are you going all dolled up?" George asked.

Jake looked over at her. She wore a white dress with some gold threads running throughout it. Her hair was loose and flowed down her back. The gold in her dress made the gold in her hair, and in her eyes, stand out.

Emily was reaching behind her neck with both hands. "Can someone help me with this thing? I can't get the clasp," she said, holding out her gold necklace.

Jake walked over behind her. "Thanks," she said, holding up her long hair as Jake fastened it around her neck.

Jake's fingers trembled as he hooked the clasp together and breathed her in, at the same time. "Got it," Jake croaked when it finally hooked together.

"Going out with Brian, I'll be back late. Bye," she said, kissing Jake's cheek. She hurried out the front door with her heels clicking on the wood floor. Jake watched her leave and touched his cheek as he still felt her lips there.

"I wouldn't let her out of the house looking like that," George muttered while washing another dish.

"What?" Jake asked not quite sure he heard right.

"Nothing," George murmured with a smile.

"What's the deal with Brian and Emily, anyways?" Jake asked, walking back to the sink. He put another dish, George handed him, into the dishwasher.

George was quiet as if contemplating how to answer. "That's for Emily to tell you," George finally replied, soaping up another dish in the sink.

"Why can't you tell me?" Jake asked, growing concerned.

"I just can't." George answered, rinsing off the dish and handing it to him. "I promised I wouldn't talk about it, so I'm not going to talk about it. If you want to know, then ask her."

"Why's everyone so secretive about everything?" Jake demanded, tossing a dish towel on the counter, annoyed.

George laughed. He picked up the towel, and dried his hands. "Look who's talking," he said to him, tossing Jake back the towel.

"What?" Jake demanded.

"You hide who you are," George said to him, opening the fridge. "Well, looky here," George said, pulling out a big chocolate cake.

He set it on the table. It had writing on the top in a darker chocolate. It read JAKE. "Darn it!" George cursed in frustration.

"What?!" Jake asked, leaning over to look at the cake and smiled. He laughed. "Alright!" He said, pulling out a plate from the cabinet.

"What did you do to deserve this?" George demanded.

Jake handed him a plate and a fork. George smiled. "I told Emily I needed chocolate cake," he answered.

George looked at him bewildered. "Why didn't I think of that?!" he said, and took a big bite out of the cake that Jake sliced for him.

*******************************

Jake sat in the library finishing his paper for English Lit. He heard high heels clicking on the floor, and then Emily appeared in the doorway. She carried a bunch of books and walked over to a table and dropped them onto it as if they were too heavy.

"Hey," she said, leaning against the table and pulled off one shoe, and then the other and sighed as her feet hit the floor.

"Whoever invented these things was evil," she said, holding the shoes in her hands.

Jake chuckled. "I'm glad I'm not a girl," he muttered, turning back to his text book.

Jake watched Emily move over to a computer and type for a while. The printer started whirring as it began to print. She started putting the books away on shelves.

"Where did you get all those?" Jake asked, not able to keep his curiosity to himself.

"Brian," Emily replied, stretching to put one up high on a shelf.

"Does he supply the library?" Jake asked, looking around at all the books around him.

"Most of the parapsychology ones, yeah." Emily looked at another book and moved to another shelf. "He picks most of them up at conferences."

"Why do you keep them all here?" he asked her.

"Research," she said simply, putting another one on a shelf. "They're a lot of help too, trying to figure out what we are," she said, stroking one of them lovingly.

"Is that why you're taking the parapsychology class? To figure out what you are?" Jake asked her.

"Partly, I think. I think I know why I am what I am, but I like to know more about my gifts, so I can be able to use them better," she explained.

"Why do you think you are what you are?" Jake asked her.

"To help others," Emily said simply.

"Help them what?" Jake asked.

"Protect them from things that are evil and would do them harm," Emily said, pulling out the pages from the printer. She began ripping the papers into fours.

"How can you do that?" Jake asked.

Emily walked over to their card catalog and started putting the cards inside.

"Sometimes I can use my gifts real easily to help," she turned around to him. "Say you broke your leg, Jake. And I pass by you in the grocery store. I walk over to you and put my hand on your leg," she knelt down and did so. 'Gee that must hurt'. Then you'd look at me surprised and say, 'Not anymore'," she stood up in finality.

"You can heal?" Jake asked in amazement.

"Yes. But it will pass to me. Oh, I won't have a broken leg, but my leg will hurt quite a bit for a few days. I can't do anything too major, either. Otherwise, it could kill me. Say if you had cancer or something. I could save you, but I'd kill myself."

"Would you ever do that?" he asked, concerned that she would.

"I would want to. But I can't. I have an obligation to the masses. You know, sacrifice one for the many," she said sadly.

"What about you Jake? What are you to do with your gifts?" she asked him.

Jake looked at her. "I don't know. Are my dreams a gift? I don't think so. I don't know which ones are real, which ones are premonitions or whatever. And are those a limit to what it is? Just dreams? What can I do with a dream?" he said.

"So much," she said to him reassuringly.

"Mind telling me?" Jake asked with a smile.

She laughed. "I wish I could. That's for you to figure out. I only know so much," she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Goodnight," she said, kissing his cheek. "Sweet dreams."

"That's powerful when you say that," he whispered to her fascinated. He looked into her beautiful eyes. "Whenever you tell me that, I don't have any bad dreams."

"That's the plan," she said with a smile.

"Are you doing that?" he asked her curiously.

"No, you are," she said seriously. He blinked at that statement. She walked to the door.

"Thanks for the cake!" he called to her as she left the room.

"You said you needed it!" Emily called back from the hall. Jake thought he needed a lot of things, but he wasn't sure what they were.